Flat-panel displays are being developed which utilize liquid crystals or electroluminescent materials to produce high quality images. These displays are expected to supplant cathode ray tube (CRT) technology and provide a more highly defined television picture. The most promising route to large scale high quality liquid crystal displays (LCDs), for example, is the active-matrix approach in which thin-film transistors (TFTs) are co-located with LCD pixels. The primary advantage of the active matrix approach using TFTs is the elimination of cross-talk between pixels, and the excellent grey scale that can be attained with TFT-compatible LCDs.
Flat panel displays employing LCD's generally include five different layers: a white light source, a first polarizing filter that is mounted on one side of a circuit panel on which the TFTs are arrayed to form pixels, a filter plate containing at least three primary colors arranged into pixels, and finally a second polarizing filter. A volume between the circuit panel and the filter plate is filled with a liquid crystal material. This material will rotate the polarization of light when an electric field is applied across it between the circuit panel and a ground affixed to the filter plate. Thus, when a particular pixel of the display is turned on, the liquid crystal material rotates polarized light being transmitted through the material so that it will pass through the second polarizing filter.
The primary approach to TFT formation over the large areas required for flat panel displays has involved the use of amorphous silicon which has previously been developed for large-area photovoltaic devices. Although the TFT approach has proven to be feasible, the use of amorphous silicon compromises certain aspects of the panel performance. For example, amorphous silicon TFTs lack the frequency response needed for large area displays due to the low electron mobility inherent in amorphous material. Thus, the use of amorphous silicon limits display speed, and is also unsuitable for the fast logic needed to drive the display.
Owing to the limitations of amorphous silicon, other alternative materials include polycrystalline silicon, or laser recrystallized silicon. These materials are limited as they use silicon that is already on glass which generally restricts further circuit processing to low temperatures.
An active matrix comprising TFTs is also useful in electroluminescent (EL) displays. The TFTs can be formed from silicon; however, the same factors that limit the use of polycrystalline silicon and amorphous silicon in the LCD active matrix also limit the use of these types of silicon in EL displays. Moreover, EL displays require TFTs capable not only of high speed and low leakage, but also of supporting the voltage level needed for electroluminescence.
Thus, a need exists for a method of forming high quality TFTs at each pixel of a panel display having the desired speed and providing for ease and reduced cost of fabrication. Further, a need exists for a method of forming high quality TFTs at each pixel of an EL panel display having the desired speed and providing for ease and reduced cost of fabrication, as well has providing the facility to operate the display pixels at the voltages necessary for luminescence.